the deal they are about to vote on is identical to the deal president obama talked about the day after the election. all that has passed since then is time and various arguments back and forth. nothing fundamental has changed. they will be voting on a package almost identical to what they were going to do. guest: maybe they will be voting on a package that is similar. the frustration is clear in your voice. i have a number of wall street clients. from talking to them this week, there was a qualitative change in their tone and attitude. host: you worked as a financial communications national director with corvis. guest: the client wanted to believe something was going to happen. as of last monday, that attitude started to change. analysts were starting to downgrade what was happening. my only question was what took them so long. the signs have been there all year that a deal at the end of the year was going to be difficult. it turned out to be even more difficult than i assumed. guest: we are in non-partisan grass-roots organization devoted to educating the public about fiscal issues. g